Indian Time - A Voice from the Eastern Door

Submitted by Richard David, Department of Environment

The Department of Environment has been aware that there is a strong possibility that we may lose up to 90% of our Butternut Trees due to a disease called “Butternut Canker”. This disease was first discovered in North America in Wisconsin in 1967 but scientists did not know the cause of the dead and dying Butternut trees. In 1979 it was discovered that the death of butternut trees was linked to a fungus transported from tree to tree by insects.

The fungi (Sirococus) are elongated sunken black blemishes that can form in all parts of a tree; even in the smallest branches in the canopy, thus making it difficult to detect the canker in its early stages. More than likely the canker will not be detected until the tree becomes stressed and branches/limbs begin to dry up and die. Infections usually begin in the lower crown of the trees but with an active canker, it begins to produce spores that get washed downward from rain and will eventually get into the main trunk. As the disease intensifies, other cankers develop on the tree including branches, stems and roots. Once the stress occurs in the tree, it will stop producing nuts. It is just a matter of time until the canker girdles the main trunk. This inhibits any nutrients from reaching the upper parts of the tree causing the eventual death of the whole tree.

If you believe you have Butternut trees on your property it may be beneficial to have someone do an assessment on the tree to make sure it’s stresses are caused by the canker. We do not recommend the removal of any butternut trees because you may have a tree that has resistance to the canker in which case, we would be interested in collecting some of the nuts that will be used to grow new, hopefully canker-resistant trees.

Butternut Trees have been placed on the endangered species list and are now protected by Federal Law making it an offence to cut any Butternut trees without a proper assessment. The Department of Environment is pleased to let you know that we have the only First Nations trained Butternut Assessors in Canada. They are Peggy Pyke-Thompson and Richard David. Also, both Peggy and Richard sit on an International Butternut Recovery Team.

There are two types of Butternut in our area, one is a hybrid that is thus far resistant to the canker the other is our native species. The hybrid is not on the protected list but care must be used when identifying one from the other. This department would be able to look at your trees and identify your Butternut as native or hybrid as it may be either or not even a Butternut; Black Walnut looks similar.

If you are interested in learning more about the canker and recovery efforts being undertaken in our area, web pages have much information. Simply do a search with the key words “Butternut Canker” and/or contact either Peggy or Richard at the Department of Environment, (613) 936-1548, or at their email addresses: richard.david@akwesasne.ca or peggy.pyke@akwesasne.ca